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Zimbabwe Inflation Leaps to Hyper Level

VOA

By Peta
ThornycroftHarare13 May 2007

Prices of
consumer goods, particularly groceries, have doubled in a month in Zimbabwe.
Peta Thornycroft reports for VOA that Zimbabwe shopkeepers and consumers are
shock at the sudden leap in prices of food saying that the rate of
inflation, already the highest in the world, is now leaping ahead so fast
that no one can predict the consequences.

A housewife shopping at a
Harare supermarket Saturday said the price of the staple food maize meal was
now 22 times higher than it was in December, a product still subsidized by
the government.

The controlled price of bread, she said, was ten times
higher than three months ago.

She said one small shopping bag of
essential goods on Saturday had cost her nearly one million Zimbabwe
dollars, or $33 U.S. on the black market, or $4,000 U.S. at the official
rate of exchange.

Officially Zimbabwe's inflation is 2,200 percent. That
number comes from the government's Central Statistical office in
Harare.

The International Monetary Fund this month said that Zimbabwe
reached the hyper inflation rate in the month of March. Economists define
hyper inflation as growth in inflation of over 50 percent month on month.
Though official inflation numbers for April have not been officially
released, some economists say there was a 160 percent gain on the month
leading to a 6,300 percent increase on the year, far above the IMF
prediction of 5,000 percent for 2007.

The official rate of inflation,
according to international accountants in Harare, is far lower than the real
rate. That is because the Central Statistical Office calculates some
essential goods according to official prices, and not street
prices.

The four main supermarket chains in Zimbabwe, which keep their
own statistics for their range of groceries and food say that the rate of
inflation is presently around 11,000 percent.

Economist John
Robertson said the official rate of inflation for April would probably be
about 3,000 percent for all goods and services but he anticipates the real
figure could be twice that amount.

He said retailers are unsure of how much to mark up their goods
because they can no longer anticipate what new prices from wholesalers will
be.

He said inflation could soon reach the point where Zimbabweans no
longer trust their own currency, and when that happens, he says, they might
seek to trade in foreign money.

Making sense of the value of Zimbabwe
dollar is difficult as there are two rates of exchange. Most calculations
are done by using the black market rate which is based on demand for those
with access to foreign money.

It is more than 100 times higher the
official rate of exchange. Most consumer goods are calculated using the
black market rate of exchange, which is 25,000 Zimbabwe dollar to one U.S.
dollar.

Most Zimbabweans have no access to foreign currency and so the
present prices of basic essentials in Zimbabwe dollars are beyond the reach
of the majority of people.

Africa's Shame

The TimesMay 14, 2007

The cosseting of Zimbabwe brands
Africa as an unregenerate dictators' clubJohn Howard's decision to ban a
tour to Zimbabwe by Australia's cricketers stands in salutary contrast to
the craven complicity of African governments in the iniquities of Robert
Mugabe's regime. Governments are rightly reluctant to intervene in decisions
by sporting bodies, but as the Australian Prime Minister observed, this
event would have been remorselessly used by "this grubby dictator" for
noisome propaganda.

Any doubts on that score should be dispelled by the
Mugabe Government's triumphalist reaction last Friday, when the combined
votes of Africa and most of Latin America, against strong opposition from
the EU, installed Francis Zhema, Zimbabwe's Environment and Tourism
Minister, in the chair of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable
Development.

This is the only forum where Africans can bring their
concerns about the environment to international attention. Zimbabwe's UN
Ambassador accused the EU of playing politics, asking: "What has sustainable
development got to do with human rights?" To that specious question,
Zimbabwe's plight gives a compelling answer.

Sustainable development
is an opaque coinage, but essentially it means ensuring that economic growth
meets present needs without compromising the prospects of future
generations. Mr Mugabe's oppressive and corrupt reign has turned Zimbabwe
into the world's fastest-shrinking economy. This is a disaster almost
entirely man-made. In the name of land reform, Mr Mugabe has recklessly
destroyed its once-thriving agricultural sector, forcing out not only white
farm owners but also 350,000 of their black farm-workers and handing much of
the land not to the landless, but to cronies who have let it go to
waste.

Millions of malnourished families now rely on food aid - aid that
the regime uses as a weapon of political intimidation. As officially
measured by the prices of controlled goods, inflation is 2,200 per cent; the
real rate is double that appalling figure. The environmental consequences of
misrule are acute. With electricity now rationed to four hours a day and
cooking fuel unaffordable, even where it is available, people are raiding
forests for firewood. Wildlife poaching is rampant in the national parks
that are the mainstay of Zimbabwe's tourism. Unemployment is 80 per cent and
life expectancy is down from 60 in 1990 to 35. Talent has fled the country
and few but the Chinese are prepared to invest there.

African
governments have often been their own worst enemies at the UN, uniting to
block reforms that would enable the UN to serve their peoples better. For
the past year, they have used their votes on the UN Human Rights Council to
shield Zimbabwe from condemnation.

On the environment, where geography,
poverty, weak government and rapid population growth make Africa extremely
vulnerable, the continent needed a respected, knowledgeable advocate at the
UN. Mr Zhema is under an EU ban on contacts with Mugabe ministers that makes
it impossible for him to function. His election will paralyse the
commission. That Zimbabwe insisted on its "right" to the post is no
surprise; but for the 12 other African governments on the Commission to have
chosen Zimbabwe to take Africa's "turn" for the rotating chairmanship is a
disgrace for which each one of them must be held to account. They have
failed Africa.

MDC says Mugabe stepping up terror
campaign

Zim Online

Monday 14 May 2007

By Brian
Ncube

BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's main opposition party at the weekend accused
President Robert Mugabe's government of stepping up a campaign of terror
against the opposition ahead of next year's key parliamentary and
presidential elections.

Both factions of the splintered Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party said Mugabe had deployed feared state security
agents in rural areas to terrorise and intimidate villagers ahead of
elections political analysts say he could lose.

Nelson Chamisa, the
spokesperson of the main faction of the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai said
that his party had received numerous reports of intimidation and harassment
of their supporters over the past three months.

"There has been a
calculated and sustained assault on the party's leadership and structures in
what we believe is an attempt to weaken the MDC ahead of next year's
elections.

"All our supporters and provincial leaders throughout the
country are under siege from ZANU PF. Anyone who is not ZANU PF is being
targeted under this terror campaign," said Chamisa.

Gabriel Chaibva,
the spokesperson of the smaller MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara, also
confirmed that their party had received similar reports of terror and
intimidation directed at the party's supporters.

Mugabe is facing
unprecedented opposition to his rule because of a severe economic crisis
that has left the majority of Zimbabwe's 12 million people mired in
poverty.

The MDC blames the crisis on repression and wrong policies by
Mugabe, charges he denies.

The crackdown on the resurgent MDC comes
amid reports that Mugabe had deployed his feared Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) agents in the southern parts of Zimbabwe, a stronghold of
the MDC, to harass and disrupt the opposition ahead of the
elections.

The MDC says at least 600 of its supporters have so far been
arrested and beaten up by state agents since March as part of Mugabe's
tactics to ensure electoral victory next year.

Villagers who spoke to
ZimOnline in Matobo district, some 68km south of the second city of
Bulawayo, confirmed that state agents had been deployed in the area saying
traditional leaders in the area had been asked to compile names of all known
opposition supporters in the area.

"State agents ordered chiefs and
headmen to compile names of villagers who support and campaign for the
opposition. The agents said we must stop participating in MDC meetings and
campaigns or else we would face death.

"The agents are even accusing us
of trying to organise people to rebel against Mugabe. Three of our youth
members were abducted and tortured by the agents last week and have since
fled to Bulawayo," said Patrick Dube, a former councillor for the MDC in
Matobo.

A headman in one of the villages, Mkhululi Moyo, also confirmed
that state agents were moving in the area harassing suspected opposition
supporters.

"They move around with the chief's aides threatening that we
would face a situation worse than Gukurahundi (early 1980s massacres carried
out by government soldiers that left about 20 000 Ndebeles dead) if we
backed Tsvangirai.

"There is an element of fear among all villagers
here as any mention of Gukurahundi is enough to send shivers down their
spines," said Moyo.

State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who is in
charge of the CIO, refused to comment on the matter saying he does not
discuss security matters with the press.

"Write what you want to
write. It will not change us," said Mutasa.

Home Affairs Minister Kembo
Mohadi said he was not aware of the issue saying it was illegal for state
agents to threaten and harass ordinary villagers.

"I have not heard about
that but I will make sure that the police investigate the claims. If these
people are being threatened as you say, they should report to the police. No
one is above the law in this country," said Mohadi. - ZimOnline

African Union finally turns heat on
Mugabe

Zim Online

Monday 14 May 2007

By Edith
Kaseke

HARARE - An unprecedented vote by the Pan African Parliament to
send a mission to probe allegations of human rights violations in Zimbabwe
has ratcheted up pressure on President Robert Mugabe but analysts were
cautious on whether the African Union (AU) was hardening its stance or
whether Harare would abandon its ruinous policies.

Several
international missions have come to Zimbabwe in the past and despite
producing reports critical of Mugabe's governance style, the veteran leader,
who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, has remained
defiant.

The Pan African Parliament (PAP) on Friday voted
overwhelmingly to send a fact-finding team to Zimbabwe to investigate
allegations of the arrests and murders of opposition figures, detention of
journalists and violations of freedom of speech.

This is the first
time the PAP has passed a motion to send a team to any African
country.

"It seems Mugabe can no longer count on the full support of the
African brotherhood and I can imagine there are many who are deeply
embarrassed by his actions," University of Zimbabwe political lecturer John
Makumbe said.

"Certainly the heat is on and this would be the first time
the Pan African Parliament has done this. So yes, pressure is rising and I
think we could see more of these developments if not just to express concern
on the manner in which Mugabe is ruling this country," Makumbe, who is
critical of Mugabe's polices said.

Mugabe's government has been
indifferent to the idea of fact finding missions, and insists that the
country's political and economic crises are an internal problem and that
foreigners can only help at the invitation of the government.

In 2005
Harare refused to entertain an AU Commission special envoy Tom Nyanduga who
had come to investigate the conditions of thousands of people displaced by
the government's widely condemned slum clearance operation.

Last year
Mugabe refused the services of AU appointed envoy, former Mozambican
President Joaquim Chisano while his government has in the past deported the
South African Congress of Trade Unions missions.

Analysts warned that
with Mugabe seeking what could be his last term next year, he would not be
keen on allowing foreign missions into the country to investigate flagrant
charges of rights abuses, which have lately affected the legal
profession.

Critics say Mugabe has stepped up a crackdown on opponents
this year, including against the main opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) and civic groups fighting his rule, in a bid to stifle dissent
as anger rises over a severe economic crisis.

In March, armed police
badly injured MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and several opposition figures
who tried to take part in a prayer rally in Highfield in defiance of a ban
on rallies.

The police said the prayer rally was an attempt to stage
protests to remove Mugabe from power.

"The government is not amenable
to the idea of foreign missions and I suspect they would do everything to
prevent that from happening. But if it is to go ahead it could be with
conditions and they (PAP) might go away with a totally different picture
from what is on the ground," Eldred Masunungure, a leading political
commentator said.

The government seemed to suggest that it would not
allow the PAP mission when Information and Publicity Minister Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu was quoted as saying "the guiding principle is that we are a
sovereign state and no one can invite themselves like that".

Although
Zimbabwe has members in the PAP, ruling ZANU PF chief whip yesterday
dismissed the PAP as a "noise-making" organisation" and that Harare could
bar the mission.

"It would be ordinarily difficult for the government to
stop such a mission because it is an arm of the African Union and Zimbabwe
has members in that parliament but then the government's mentality is that
it is under siege and will view such a mission with the utmost suspicion,"
said Masunungure.

The MDC has urged the AU to convene a special summit on
Zimbabwe, which is grappling with a severe economic crisis that has pushed
inflation to the highest rate in the world at 2 200 percent and unemployment
above 80 percent.

Tsvangirai is scheduled to brief John Kufour, the
AU chairman on the political developments in Harare soon. Kufour has
previously said Africa was worried with the turn of events in the southern
African country.

"Africa is now indicating in the right direction and
this vote comes at a time when the African voice is desperately needed on
the Zimbabwe crisis," Nelson Chamisa, the spokesperson for the
Tsvangirai-led MDC said. - ZimOnline

Two more illegal miners killed in
Zimbabwe

Zim Online

Monday 14 May 2007

By Brian
Ncube

BULAWAYO - Two more illegal gold miners have died at Hope Fountain,
30km south-east of Bulawayo after they were trapped in a disused mine shaft
while trying to evade arrest by the police, ZimOnline has
learnt.

Villagers at Hope Fountain said the two miners died last Monday
during a stampede after the police fired tear gas in a bid to force them out
from a mine shaft where they were hiding.

The two have since been
identified as Khumbulani Dube, 17, and Thabano Moyo, 33.

"The two
were part of a group of about 10 illegal gold panners at Bonzo Mine. The
police called out the illegal panners to come out but only four miners
obeyed the order," said a villager who witnessed the incident.

In an
attempt to force the remaining miners to come out and hand themselves over,
the police fired some tear gas into the mine shaft resulting in a collapse
of the mine shaft as the miners stampeded to come out.

Villagers in Hope
Fountain who spoke to ZimOnline at the weekend blamed the police for the
tragedy saying the police should not have fired tear gas into the disused
mine.

"Although gold panning is illegal, these young men did not deserve
this painful death. The young men did not have any other source of
livelihood," said Petros Khumalo, a local headman.

Police
spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed the death of the two miners but
declined to comment further.

"Yes I can confirm the death of the two men
but I cannot say out more because we are still investigating the main cause
of death," said Bvudzijena.

At least 10 illegal gold miners have so
far died during the police crackdown on illegal mining activities in
Zimbabwe while more than 26 000 people have also been arrested during the
operation.

The Zimbabwean government last year launched a major crackdown
against illegal mining activities code-named Operation Chikorokoza Chapera
in a bid to stop illegal mining activities in the country.

Human
rights groups have however accused the police of using excessive force in
dealing with the illegal miners. - ZimOnline

Zim teachers demand transfers to schools near
homes

Zim Online

Monday 14 May
2007

By Regerai Marwezu

MASVINGO - Hundreds of schools in southern Zimbabwe failed to open for the
second term last Tuesday as most teachers sought transfers to schools near
their homes because of high transport costs, ZimOnline has learnt.

Zimbabwean teachers are among the lowest paid civil servants taking home
salaries as little as Z$350 000 a month, enough to buy only five litres of
petrol on the parallel market.

In Masvingo, hordes of teachers
gathered at Ministry of Education regional offices at Wigley House demanding
transfers to nearby schools.

The teachers said they could no longer
afford to commute to far away schools because of high transport
costs.

Masvingo regional education director, Obert Mujuru confirmed
to ZimOnline at the weekend that there was a low turn-out of teachers in
most schools in the province forcing some schools to remain
closed.

"We have a few schools which did not open since Tuesday
because teachers did not turn," said Mujuru. "We are studying the situation
to see if we can hire temporary teachers to feel the void."

Teachers in the Midlands and Matabeleland provinces were also said to have
refused to go back to work citing poor salaries.

In Gwanda,
Matabeleland South, scores of teachers were also seen milling around
Ministry of Education offices seeking transfers to schools near their
homes.

An official with the education ministry in Gwanda confirmed
that all was not well at some schools in the area as teachers were refusing
to report for duty demanding transfers.

"We are still trying to
find the extent of the problem but it appears that a number of schools are
still closed three days after the opening day," said the official who
refused to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the
Press.

Education Minister Aenias Chigwedere said he was not aware
of the problem but urged the teachers to immediately report for
work.

"I am not aware of the problem you are talking about but I
urge all teachers who have not reported for work to do so or risk being
fired," said Chigwedere.

Strikes by teachers demanding better
pay and improved working conditions are common in Zimbabwe.

The
militant Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), which led a series
of crippling strikes earlier this year, says the government must award
teachers a new round of salary increments in line with the country's run
away inflation which stands at 2 200 percent.

The union is
demanding salaries of around Z$3 million a month for teachers. -
ZimOnline

Zim unhappy about African lawmakers' decision

President Robert Mugabe's ruling party in
Zimbabwe on Sunday reacted angrily to a resolution passed by African
lawmakers last week to send a delegation to probe rights abuses in the
country.

Joram Gumbo, a ZANU-PF delegate to the Pan African
Parliament in South Africa, said he and other ruling party delegates had
tried but failed to block a resolution passed on Friday to send a
fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe.

But he dismissed the body as
just a noise-making organisation and said Harare still had the power to
prevent it from coming to the country.

"We tried our best (to block
the motion) but there were many odds against us," Gumbo said in comments
carried by the Sunday Mail, a government
mouthpiece.

"Long before we arrived here (in
South Africa), the (opposition) MDC had already sent its team to lobby
against the government," said Gumbo, who is also the ruling party's chief
whip in the 150-seat lower house of assembly.

The Pan African
Parliament, a largely ceremonial institution, voted on Friday by 149 to 20
to send a fact-finding team to Zimbabwe to probe recent rights abuses by the
police and state agents.

But Gumbo said the members of parliament
would not necessarily be welcomed by Harare.

"Zimbabwe could
still block the mission if it so wishes as the (Pan African) parliament will
have to write a letter to the government informing it of the intention to
visit," the paper reported him as saying.

Zimbabwe has been under
intense international scrutiny since March 11, when police arrested and
severely assaulted dozens of opposition activists and leaders while in
custody.

The MDC said at least 600 of its members were abducted and
tortured between February and April.

The ruling party's Gumbo
said he and others who opposed Friday's motion to send the delegation did so
on the basis that the regional SADC bloc recently appointed President Thabo
Mbeki of South Africa to mediate in Zimbabwe's political
crisis.

A visit by the parliamentary delegation might disrupt his
work, he said. "Our position is that too many cooks spoil the broth," Gumbo
was quoted as saying. - Sapa-dpa

Zimbabwe opposition figure wins SAfrica asylum

Reuters

Sun 13 May
2007, 14:24 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa has granted
political asylum to Zimbabwean former opposition legislator Roy Bennett, who
fled into exile last year after being accused of involvement in a plot to
kill President Robert Mugabe.

Bennett, a former legislator for the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was denied asylum in South Africa in
May 2006 but has been in the country ever since.

"I am very happy
that it is finally over and I have been granted the (asylum) status,"
Bennett was quoted as saying by the South African Press Association
(SAPA).

"I was very disturbed in the beginning when my application was
refused even though it was very clear-cut and evident that my life was in
danger because of my political beliefs," he said.Bennett, a former
farmer who was jailed for eight months in 2004 for assaulting a cabinet
minister during parliamentary debate, was one of the few white Zimbabweans
to remain active in politics after Mugabe's decision in 2000 to seize
white-owned farms to give to landless blacks.

He was barred from standing
in parliamentary elections held while he was serving his sentence in March
2005.

Bennett was among eight people, including a sitting MDC legislator,
accused of plotting to topple the government and assassinate Mugabe after
security forces found what they said was an arms cache in the eastern border
city of Mutare.

The MDC has denied involvement in any such plot
against the government, and the opposition and rights groups say the charges
were part of Mugabe's campaign to silence his critics.

Howard's cricket ban lauded in Africa

AFRICAN human rights
organisations have hailed Australian Prime Minister John Howard's decision
to ban the country's cricket team from a planned tour of Zimbabwe later this
year.

Newspapers and radio stations in Africa today broadcast Mr Howard's
announcement that the Government would block the Australian team's Zimbabwe
tour to avoid "an enormous propaganda boost to the Mugabe
regime".

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has recently stepped up
brutal treatment of opposition politicians in his country, leading of police
beatings and unjustified detention.

Pascal Mabali, coordinator of the
DRC Human Rights Initiative, a non-governmental organisation based in
Democratic Republic of Congo, said Mr Howard's stance was right and should
be emulated by all leaders, especially those of developed
countries.

"We thank Howard for stopping his national cricket team from
visting Zimbabwe," Mr Mabali said.

"That is a good lesson to all
dictators in Africa.

"They should know that they can be isolated if they
misbehave by harassing their opponents."

Australia's decision also
won support from the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network
(EHAHRDN), which groups human rights activists from more than 10 countries
including Somalia, Ethopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and
Rwanda.

An EHAHRDN official, Dennis Shabarani, said it would have been a
big mistake for Australia to permit the cricket tour given the poor state of
human rights in Zimbabwe.

"Howard's action will make Mugabe know that
whatever he does in his country is known and the world is not happy with
him," he said.

Burundi Human Rights Forum chairperson Michelle Mbuguza
added: "Australia's cancelling the trip should open Mugabe's eyes to see
that his days are numbered.

"You cannot be isolated by the whole
world and you survive for a long time."

It
was in 1977 that the Commonwealth of Nations, at a meeting at Gleneagles,
Scotland, agreed to discourage sporting ties with South Africa as part of
their support for an international campaign against racism.

You
would've thought that such an extraordinary step, and certainly its
resounding success in hastening change in South Africa, might have served as
a lesson for future generations - but apparently not.

Just 30 years
on, as South Africa's new leaders speak of the influence of the Gleneagles
sporting boycott, today's generation prefer to embrace deception and farce
to avoid the hard decisions over Zimbabwe.

The whole sorry business
plunged to new depths yesterday when the Australian Government were
effectively forced to ban their national body from sending a team to
Zimbabwe in September, in order to save it from millions of dollars in
fines.

As the International Cricket Council rules stands, a national
board is liable for fines totalling more than US$2 million ($2.72 million)
as well as lost financial opportunities (such as television revenue), if it
bails out of a tour for reasons other than safety and security. However, one
of the few loopholes in the process allows an exemption for any team banned
from touring by their sovereign government, a clause that was necessitated
by India and Pakistan's stand-off during the 1980s and
1990s.

Hence John Howard's expedient collusion with Cricket Australia
yesterday, an effort that mimicked Helen Clark's decision to ban the
incoming Zimbabwe tour of 2005-06, and continued one of international
cricket's most shameful charades.Neither Prime Minister wanted to take
such a cavalier approach to their citizens' freedom of movement but
eventually succumbed, reasoning that separation with Zimbabwe was more
important than the semantics; that the end justified the means.

And
this is where the ICC's stance of not wanting to interfere in member
countries' political and domestic matters starts to wear a bit
thin.

Rather than not being an influence, the world body is forcing
freedom-loving countries such as New Zealand and Australia to take draconian
steps to save their cricket administrations from significant
losses.

True, the ICC's task is nothing to envy. Its attempt to remain
non-judgmental about international politics is utterly understandable,
albeit a tad futile.

Where is it expected to draw the line? Should it
stop at Zimbabwe, or should it also apply sanctions against Pakistan which,
after all, is run by the champion of a military coup? And what about Sri
Lanka's human rights' record against the Tamils?

But Zimbabwe is now
beyond the pale, just as South Africa became an unacceptable companion of
all freedom-loving countries in the late 1970s and 1980s.

When the
horrifically oppressed Zimbabweans can't access electricity let alone pay
for it, the idea of playing sport there is an obscenity; a blatant display
of apathy in the face of some of the world's most desperate souls.

It's
now beyond the reach of cricket authorities, it's a matter for international
leaders - and the sooner they can agree on something that sidelines Mugabe
on a sporting level until his people are freed, the better.

This is no
time for games.

Why can't we have an international sports-wide boycott of
Zimbabwe? Why should we allow a tyrant to play us off, country against
country, culture against culture, until the core of the issue - Mugabe's
sickening regime - is lost in the bickering?

Hopefully someone will
soon take a stand and get organised, so that sporting organisations around
the world don't have to, in an effort to avoid international condemnation,
ask their own governments to cancel their tours.

If we could be so up
front about it 30 years ago, you'd think we could find a way to stand
together once more.

Hoey slams 'supine complicity' of ICC

Cricinfo staff

May 13,
2007

Kate Hoey, the former UK sports minister who is chairman of
the all-party parliamentary group on Zimbabwe, welcomed the news that John
Howard had barred the Australian side from touring Zimbabwe in
September.

"It's very good to hear the Australian government has given a
clear moral lead and shown solidarity with those brave Zimbabweans who daily
risk life and limb to free their country from the brutal dictatorship of
Robert Mugabe," Hoey said. "I was approached this week by cricket fans in
Zimbabwe who asked me to help get the tour called off. They told me that
they love their cricket and they love their country and were determined not
to allow Mugabe to use the Australia tour to camouflage his
oppression.

"Mugabe has installed political commissars Peter Chingoka and
Ozias Bvute to run the game; sport in Zimbabwe has been taken over by his
regime for propaganda purposes to give a gloss of normality and divert
attention from his murderous political oppression.

"Cricket fans in
Zimbabwe despair at the supine complicity of ICC officials who allow
themselves to be used as stooges for Mugabe's grandstanding to the world.
The rising generation who are Africa's future feel utterly betrayed and
disgusted by the short-sighted self-serving stupidity of these sports
bureaucrats."

Hoey, who has been a vocal critic of the ICC's
treatment of the Zimbabwe situation, accused it of giving a message that "it
couldn't care less about dying Zimbabweans." She continued: "It just wants
to make sure it gets a few million dollars out of the tour to divvy up with
Mugabe's murderers - it is bloodstained money.

"I share the view of
Mary Robinson, the president of Oxfam and former UN high commissioner for
human rights, that there should be a sporting boycott of Zimbabwe to bring
an end to Mugabe's reign of terror. I want the ICC to suspend Zimbabwe
Cricket and to cancel all planned matches involving Zimbabwe."

Hoey
has secretly visited Zimbabwe three times in the last four years and has
seen first hand the problems facing the country.

Jailed mercenary Mann writes diary of revenge

Sunday
May 13,2007By Geraint JonesBRITISH mercenary Simon Mann, jailed for
allegedly plotting to overthrow an African despot, may still be able to
strike back at those he believes betrayed him.

Old Etonian Mann, 53,
has been writing his memoirs in Zimbabwe's Chikurubi maximum security prison
and has promised to lift the lid on the conduct of his former
associates.

The revelations could send tremors through the upper echelons
of the British Establish­ment and embarrass a number of politicians and
businessmen, including Sir Mark Thatcher.

The son of former England
cricket captain and brewing magnate George Mann, he has vowed to finish the
work despite the news that he will be extradited to Equatorial Guinea, the
country at the centre of the alleged coup plot, a decision he says is a
virtual death sentence.

Among those who might fear the ex-SAS ­officer's
pen is his former close friend Sir Mark, son of Baroness
Thatcher.

Sir Mark's decision to admit two years ago in a South African
court that he was guilty of ­providing finance - albeit unwittingly - for
the plotters angered Mann. Sir Mark was fined £265,000 and given a suspended
four-year prison sentence.

Mann, who was arrested in Zimbabwe on arms
charges, was jailed for four years.

The two men have not been in
touch since.

Other names that have been linked to the so-called "Wonga
Coup" include former Tory politician Lord Archer, London-based Leb­anese
millionaire oil trader Ely Calil - both of whom have denied any involvement
in helping to organise the coup - and Severo Moto, the exiled politician
who, allegedly, would have been installed as president by the
coup.

Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has also faced
accusations that the British Government was given advance warning of a coup
plot from intelligence sources but apparently did nothing to warn Equatorial
Guinea.

Mann's lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, said that a number of
publishers are vying for the rights for the potentially explosive
memoirs.

"Simon Mann is writing a book covering his life, his career, his
prison experience, his friends and those who betrayed him," he
said.

"I have been approached by a number of publishers who want to buy
the rights. I have passed on the information to him and he will decide who
should get the rights. He wants to sell his story and make money out of
it."

Mann was due for release from prison two days ago after serving
three years of his ­sentence. But last week a court in Harare ordered his
deportation to Equatorial Guinea.

There he would face the wrath of
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, whose regime he allegedly tried to
topple.

Nguema has promised not to impose a death sentence if Mann is
convicted. But Mann, who as the Sunday Express previously revealed is in
poor health, is likely to face a long spell in one of the world's most
grisly prisons.

The oil-rich West African country has one of the worst
human rights records in the world. Inmates at its notorious Black Beach
Prison are routinely beaten, tortured and starved, according to Amnesty
International, whose ­officials were refused entry to Zimbabwe to give
evidence at Mann's extradition hearing.

Fourteen men - said to be the
advance party of the plotters - were arrested in Equatorial Guinea and were
imprisoned at Black Beach.

One of the group has already died. Gerhard
Eugen Nershz succumbed to what the authorities described as "cerebral
malaria with ­complications". But when he was taken to hospital shortly
before his death, witnesses reported that he appeared to have severe
injuries to his hands and feet consistent with torture.

Mann's wife
Amanda was said to be devastated last night by the decision to hand him over
to Equatorial Guinea. Mr Samkange has lodged an appeal but an application
for bail was refused.

Jonathan Kay on the latest
farce at the United Nations

National Post, Canada

Full Comment

January 20, 2003 was a day of shame for
the United Nations. That was the date when Libya, a North African
dictatorship with an appalling human rights record, was picked to chair the
United Nations Human Rights Commission. For the UN's critics, Libya's
selection symbolized the utterly amoral nature of the world
body.

May 11, 2007 was another such day of infamy for the
United Nations. On that day - last Friday - it was announced that Zimbabwe
had been picked to head the UN's commission on Sustainable
Development.

Like many UN posts, this one is selected on
a regional basis. This year was Africa's turn, and Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe apparently still enjoys a measure of respect among his African
peers. Zimbabwe's Environment Minister Francis Nheme will now become the
commission's chairman.

It goes without saying that
the mere mention of Zimbabwe and "sustainable development" in the same
sentence constitutes a grim joke. The country features some of Africa's most
fertile soil, and was once home to thousands of productive white-owned
farms. As recently as 2000, it was wealthy and stable by sub-Sahran
standards. But when Mr. Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms and
distributing the land to his cronies seven years ago, the economy collapsed
- a trend that was only exacerbated when the paranoid old tyrant demolished
tens of thousands of homes and small businesses in "Operation
Murambatsvina," a 2005 campaign against political opponents in the country's
shantytowns. The country's currency is now virtually worthless (trading at
20,000 Zimbabwean dollars per greenback). Unemployment is at 80%. And
Mozambique has threatened to cut electricity to Zimbabwe because the country
can't pay its debts.

Only at the United Nations could a
bankrupt dictatorship that's squandered its God-given bounty be picked as
the leader of a group mandated with the promotion of sustainable
development. Farces like this explain why the body has such little moral
authority.

Zimbabwe Vigil Diary

Group photo of Morris Men
and Vigil supporters Peter Tatchell
being interviewed by the BBC with Addley & Chipo

Fortunately the heavy rain
and blustery wind which nearly tore our tarpaulin away had died down by the time
we were joined by three groups from the Westminster Morris Men: the Headington
Quarry, East
Suffolk and East Saxon. Every
second Saturday in May they dance at various spots around Trafalgar Square and
we always look forward to them coming (this is our fifth meeting with them).
Again we were invited to dance with them and various combinations of Vigil
supporters and Morris Men clashed sticks in the traditional dance. The Morris
Men’s accompaniment of violin and accordion was joined by Julius on the drum.
Even with our Vigil t-shirts we looked dowdy compared to our English friends
with their traditional floral hats and bells around their ankles. Must do
something about that – though now Zimbabwe is Chair of the UN
Sustainability Development Commission it will have to be something really
sustainable, like massive begging bowls around our ankles. The clashing of
sticks in the Morris dancing was a welcome reminder of how the debate should be
conducted – rather than the clashing of sticks on bare flesh we see in the
“grubby dictator’s” Zimbabwe.

We had with us Hilary
FitzPatrick who spoke about this clashing of sticks in Zimbabwe this week: “On
Tuesday, 8th May
2007, my 70 year old husband
was beaten by riot police in Harare. My husband together with
many other lawyers had responded to Mrs Beatrice Mtetwa’s (President of the Law
Society) appeal to the legal community to congregate at the High Court of Harare
with the intention of a peaceful march to Parliament to protest at the earlier
arrest of two human rights lawyers, namely Mr Muchhadeha and Mr Makoni. My
husband together with many other lawyers responded to Mrs Mtetwa’s call.
Zimbabwe’s riot police also
responded and descended on the High Court. Mrs Mtetwa, Mr Micah, another law
councillor whose name is not known to me and my husband were assaulted at the
High Court, thrown into a pick-up and dragged to a vlei area near the
Harare prison. Dragged out of
the pick-up and ordered to lie down, my husband refused to do so. Accordingly he
was beaten to the ground. During the commotion, Mr Micah made a run for it and
leaped onto the bonnet of a passing vehicle. The result was that a growing
number of vehicles stopped and observed the activities of the riot police with
horror. Ultimately the riot police made off leaving their victims behind. I
salute the courage of my husband and all those showing the courage to resist the
human rights abuses of the Mugabe regime.” We were so pleased to have Mrs
FitzPatrick with us for the whole afternoon.

Another visitor from
Zimbabwe was Cecilie who had just
been to see her very elderly mother in Scandinavia but said she had made her
travel plans so that she could be at a Vigil. Cecilie said she had been
following what we were doing in the Zimbabwean newspaper. We are glad she will
be able to give our greetings to friends when she returns home. Our supporter
Peter Tatchell, the human rights campaigner, also came by with a BBC camera crew
in tow. They were filming his campaigning activities for a film for BBC
Education. The Vigil always provides lively footage for film
crews.

FOR YOUR DIARY:
Monday, 14th May, 7.30 pm.Central
LondonZimbabwe Forum. Another action
planning forum. For discussion: the
anniversary of Murumbatsvina, prevention of Mugabe's trip to the EU meeting in
Portugal and challenging South Africa’s hosting of the World Cup in 2010.
Upstairs at the Theodore
Bullfrog pub, 28 John Adam
Street, London WC2 (cross the
Strand from the Zimbabwe Embassy,
go down a passageway to John Adam
Street, turn right and you will
see the pub).